Nine acquires Flashpoint

Channel Nine is the “unnamed Australian network” I told you about last month that has picked up the Canadian-made drama Flashpoint.

Flashpoint follows an elite metropolitan police force called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU) which resolves extreme situations including hostage taking, bomb threats and heavily armed criminals. Even though they’re backed with high-tech equipment with an arsenal of explosives, tasers, submachine guns, assault and sniper rifles, the SRU operators use their intuition to voice their judgements to resolve the situation.

The buzz for the series, which premiered in the US earlier this month, has been positive. The Boston Globe praised the show for using emotions that “lingers on the psychic toll that such high-tension work can take.”

Set in Toronto, it is the first Canadian series aired by a major US broadcast network that is set entirely in Canada (Due South was primarily set in Chicago).

“This is another great acquisition for Nine”, said Director of Programming Michael Healy, “Flashpoint is the most successful drama launch of the US summer season and it sure to be a hit with Australian audiences as well.”

The series stars Enrico Colantoni from Just Shoot Me (so that’s why the series was rescheduled in Nightline’s slot!) and Veronica Mars, plus Amy Jo Johnson (Power Rangers) and Hugh Dillon (Durham County).

No airdate has yet been announced.

Press Release:Channel Nine announced today it has bought the exclusive rights to the thrilling new police drama series, FLASHPOINT, which debuted to strong ratings in the US recently, with an audience of over 7 million viewers.

Screening on CBS, FLASHPOINT performed so well in its original Friday night timeslot, and its subsequent encore screenings, that it was moved to the prime Thursday night slot of 10pm, following CSI. The show was so popular that it retained over 87% of the lead in audience.

Due to its success in the US, FLASHPOINT has been sold to over 52 territories worldwide.

Leading the cast of FLASHPOINT is Enrico Colantoni, best known for his role as fashion photographer Elliott DiMauro on the popular sitcom “Just Shoot Me”.

FLASHPOINT is a drama that depicts the emotional journey into the tough, risk-filled lives of a group of cops in the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), inspired by Toronto’s Emergency Task Force. It’s a unique unit that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, climbs the sides of buildings and talks down suicidal teens. Members of a highly-skilled tactical team, they’re also trained in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the suspect’s head to diffuse the situation to try and save lives

The Strategic Response Unit is a team of cops like no other – they’re the elite, the blueblood of the force. High risk is their business, and life-and-death stakes are their world.

They’re the envy of law enforcement everywhere.

The stakes are always high in Flashpoint – only here, the lives of the men and women on the team are also always on the line. That’s the nature of the job. These individuals are constant witnesses to the extremes of human distress. Not everyone is cut out for this. If you’re a cop, you’re three times more likely to kill yourself than to be killed by a bad guy.

“This is another great acquisition for Nine”, said Director of Programming Michael Healy, “Flashpoint is the most successful drama launch of the US summer season and it sure to be a hit with Australian audiences as well.”